The Histories by Herodotus painted the most fascinating, colorful and BS stories considering his work meant to be non-fiction. Nevertheless, it continued to serve as a source for many historical events and personalities, from Greeks, Scythians, and Persians albeit taking them with a handful of salt. His description of the reign of Cambyses certainly tells numerous interesting stories.
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| Cambyses II and his retinue in Egypt in a scene by Jean-Adrien Guignet |
1. Cambyses II’s reason for invading Egypt
Invading Egypt for its fertile lands, gateway to Africa, and another great civilization truly marked it as a target for conquest by the Persians. These reasons seemed to be boring compared to the reason given out by Herodotus involving a disgruntled eye-doctor and a love scammed ruler.
Below is the account of Herodotus:
Cambyses sent a herald to Egypt asking Amasis for his daughter; and this he did by the counsel of a certain Egyptian, who devised it by reason of a grudge that he bore against Amasis, because when Cyrus sent to Amasis asking for the best eye-doctor in Egypt the king had chosen this man out of all the Egyptian physicians and sent him perforce to Persia away from his wife and children.
In other words, an Eye-doctor for being “the best” received as his reward being sent away to far away Susa leaving his family behind to serve a foreign King. Becoming a doctor in the Persian court gave him influence over Cambyses which he used to take his revenge on Amasis who sent him away.
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| Pharaoh Amais II with Polycrates, Tyrant of Samos |
The ancient ophthalmologist wanted Amasis to suffer from being taken away from a family daughter just as he did, so he urged Cambyses to take one of Amasis’ daughters as his wife. Herodotus wrote:
With this grudge in mind he moved Cambyses by his counsel to ask Amasis for his daughter, that Amasis might be grieved if he gave her, or Cambyses’ enemy if he refused her. So Amasis was sorely afraid of the power of Persia, and could neither give his daughter nor deny her; for he knew well that Cambyses would make her not his queen but his mistress. Reasoning thus he bethought him of a very tall and fair damsel called Nitetis, daughter of the former king Apries, and all that was left of that family; Amasis decked her out with raiment and golden ornaments and sent her to the Persians as if she were his own daughter. But after a while, the king greeting her as the daughter of Amasis, the damsel said, “King, you know not how Amasis has deceived you: he decked me out with ornaments and sent me to you to pass for his own daughter; but I am in truth the daughter of his master Apries, whom he and other Egyptians rebelled against and slew.” It was these words and this reason that prevailed with Cambyses to lead him in great anger against Egypt.
Cambyses became a victim of a love-scam. He asked Amasis for one of his daughters to be his mail order bride, but the Egyptian ruler instead sent one of the princesses of the previous ruling family, named Nitetis, dressing her in the finest hoping Cambyses believed he had one of his daughters. Eventually it failed.
2. Cambyses II Parentage and Promise
Following the story of the ophthalmologist and the false daughter, Herodotus wrote a portion dealing with the gossip regarding Cambyses II’s parentage. Apparently, the Egyptians, hoping either for favor or to undermine Cambyses rule claim the subject Persian King as their own.
The Egyptians claimed that Cyrus the Great and not Cambyses ordered for Nitetis to be a concubine and she gave birth to Cambyses. But Herodotus defended Cambyses Achaemenid heritage. The Greek historian wrote:
...the Egyptians claim Cambyses for their own; they say that he was the son of this daughter of Apries, and that it was Cyrus, not Cambyses, who sent to Amasis for his daughter. But this tale is false. Nay, they are well aware (for the Egyptians have a truer knowledge than any man of the Persian laws) firstly, that no bastard may be king of Persia if there be a son born in lawful wedlock; and secondly, that Cambyses was born not of the Egyptian woman but of Cassandane, daughter of Pharnaspes, an Achaemenid. But they so twist the story because they would claim kinship with the house of Cyrus.
Herodotus added another story, which he himself did not believe, Nitetis did came to the Persian court to be Cyrus the Great’s wife, but the Egyptian beauty attracted the jealousy of Cassandane. Cambyses, being a dutiful pious son, decided to avenge the slights on his mother by destroying Nitestis' home, Egypt. The passage read:
...that a certain Persian lady came to visit Cyrus’ wives, and greatly praised and admired the fair and tall children who stood by Cassandane. Then Cassandane, Cyrus’ wife, said, “Ay, yet though I be the mother of such children Cyrus dishonors me and honors this newcomer from Egypt.” So she spoke in her bitterness against Nitetis; and Cambyses, the eldest of her sons, said, “Then, mother, when I am grown a man, I will turn all Egypt upside down.” …he kept it in mind, and it was thus that when he grew up and became king, he made the expedition against Egypt.
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| Nitetis by EB Doubek for G. Ebers The Daughters of the Pharaoh |
If an angry ophthalmologist or a promise to a mother seemed to be not enough to for Herodotus for Cambyses’ reason to invade, he added another, a well-respected Halicarnassian mercenary working in the Egyptian army named Phanes decided to defect by escaping Egypt. Amasis sent out a Eunuch to catch the defector, but when the agent captured the defector, Phanes cleverly escaped and found refuge in Cambyses court serving as an adviser on the pending invasion. Herodotus wrote:
There was among Amasis’ foreign soldiers one Phanes, a Halicarnassian by birth, a man of sufficient judgment and valiant in war. This Phanes had some grudge against Amasis, and fled from Egypt on shipboard so that he might have an audience of Cambyses. Seeing that he was a man much esteemed among the foreign soldiery and had an exact knowledge of all Egyptian matters, Amasis was zealous to take him, and sent a trireme with the trustiest of his eunuchs to pursue him. This eunuch caught him in Lycia but never brought him back to Egypt; for Phanes was too clever for him, and made his guards drunk and so escaped to Persia. There he found Cambyses prepared to set forth against Egypt, but in doubt as to his march, how he should cross the waterless desert; so Phanes showed him what was Amasis’ condition and how he should march; as to this, he counseled Cambyses to send and ask the king of the Arabians for a safe passage.
Cambyses followed Phanes’ advice and his army received help from Arab guides to cross the desert and into Egypt.
4. Crossing the Desert
Marching an army into a desert by no means an easy task. For Cambyses’ march, Herodotus mentioned ways the Persian army kept themselves hydrated during the march. One way, with the help of the Arabians, they sent out camels to the driest parts of the desert with bags of water. Second, the Arabians and Persians built canals that supplied water from a river that flowed from Arabia to the Red Sea called Corys.
...he filled camel-skins with water and loaded all his live camels with these; which done, he drove them into the waterless land and there awaited Cambyses’ army. This is the most credible of the stories told; but I must relate the less credible tale also, since they tell it. There is a great river in Arabia called Corys, issuing into the sea called Red. From this river (it is said) the king of the Arabians carried water by a duct of sewn ox-hides and other hides of a length sufficient to reach the dry country; and he had great tanks dug in that country to receive and keep the water. It is a twelve days’ journey from the river to that desert. By three ducts (they say) he led the water to several places.
Upon leaving the desert, Cambyses learned of Amasis’ death and the succession of the late Egyptian King’s son Psammenitus (Psamtik III) who with an army in the mouth of the Nile river called Pelusian (Pelusium) awaited the Persians.
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| Psammenitus by Jean-Adrien Guignet |
In addition, the Egyptians, with their mercenaries, decided to punish Phanes for his treason. Right in the lands dividing the 2 armies, they brought out Phanes’ sons and slit their throats, capturing their blood with a bowl in front. After which they mixed it with wine and water before drinking it.
...soldiery of the Egyptian, Greeks and Carians, devised a plan to punish Phanes, being wroth with him for leading a stranger army into Egypt. Phanes had left sons in Egypt; these they brought to the camp, into their father’s sight, and set a great bowl between the two armies; then they brought the sons one by one and cut their throats over the bowl. When all the sons were killed, they poured into the bowl, wine and water, and the foreign soldiery drank of this and thereafter gave battle.
The Persians had the last laugh when they won the battle of Pelusium. The Egyptians then fled to Memphis where Cambyses sent envoys for talks. The Egyptians, however, slew the envoys and a siege began and lasted for a while. Eventually, Memphis surrendered and Cambyses captured Psammenitus.
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| Battle of Pelisium by Paul-Marie Lenoir, 1872 |
5. Testing Psammenitus
If Cyrus the Great had Croesus, Cambyses had Psammenitus whom he tested by making him watch his son and daughter being degraded. For Psammenitus’ daughter, he had her dressed as a slave and fetch water along with other children of nobility. He had the women pass their father’s in such a state making the Egyptian noble weep and lament except for Psammeninuts who bowed to the ground in resignation.
…he (Cambyses) made a trial of Psammenitus’ spirit, as I shall show. He dressed the king’s daughter in slave’s attire and sent her with a vessel to fetch water, in company with other maidens dressed as she was, chosen from the families of the chief men. So when the damsels passed before their fathers crying and lamenting, all the rest answered with cries and weeping, seeing their children’s evil case; but Psammenitus, having seen with his own eyes and learnt all, bowed himself to the ground.
For Psammenitus’ son, he along with 2,000 other Egyptian men, with ropes in their necks and bits on their mouths marched out into the desert to be executed for their killing of Cambyses’ envoys in Memphis, with 10 Egyptians for every 1 dead. Psammenitus reacted the same way as he saw his daughter.
Cambyses next made Psammenitus’ son to pass him with two thousand Egyptians of like age besides, all with ropes bound round their necks and bits in their mouths; who were led forth to make atonement for those Mytilenaeans who had perished with their ship at Memphis; for such was the judgment of the royal judges, that every man’s death be paid for by the slaying of ten noble Egyptians. When Psammenitus saw them pass by and perceived that his son was led out to die, and all the Egyptians who sat with him wept and showed their affliction, he did as he had done at the sight of his daughter.
His reaction, however, differed when he saw one of his companions who descended into poverty and begged for alms to survive. This companion passed Psammenitus who upon recognizing him wept in great lamentation.
…one of his boon companions, a man past his prime, that had lost all his possessions, and had but what a poor man might have, and begged of the army; this man now passed before Psammenitus son of Amasis and the Egyptians who sat in the outer part of the city. When Psammenitus saw him, he broke into loud weeping, smiting his head and calling on his companion by name.
Cambyses inquired on the reason for Psammenitus sudden burst of sorrow. Psammenitus replied:
Son of Cyrus, my private grief was too great for weeping; but the misfortune of my companion called for tears—one that has lost wealth and good fortune and now on the threshold of old age is come to beggary.
Apparently this moved Cambyses and his court and they respected Psammenitus and gave him mercy. Cambyses himself sent for the son to be spared for the execution, but unfortunately, the memo came late. The executioner took Psammenitus’ son first.
See also:
Bibliography:
Herodotus, trans. by A.D. Godley. "Herodotus The Persian Wars (Godley )/Book III." Wikisource. Accessed on November 9, 2024. URL: https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Herodotus_The_Persian_Wars_(Godley)/Book_III
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